Weekly PGA Recap: Add a Win to the List

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Published on October 9, 2023

Ben Griffin has a devoted niche following on social media -- if you consider some 80,000 TikTok followers "niche." The 27-year-old North Carolina alum takes us inside the week of PGA Tour golfers at a tournament -- all the perks they get, what practice days are like, etc. -- and in a light and entertaining way.

His followers were no doubt looking forward to hearing Griffin describe his first PGA Tour win, which looked like a pretty good possibility deep into Sunday at the Country Club of Jackson in Mississippi. Griffin led much of the Sanderson Farms Championship, only to bogey two of the final three holes, including No. 18, to fall into a whopping five-way playoff.

That proved costly for Griffin, as Luke List sank a massive 43-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole to defeat the four who parred -- Griffin, Scott Stallings, Henrik Norlander and golf's burgeoning superstar, Ludvig Aberg. They had all completed 72 holes at 18-under-par.

List entered the week in 119th position in the FedExCup Standings, in danger of losing his card if he didn't finish inside the top 125 at the end of the fall season. Instead, the soon-to-be 39-year-old is now exempt for two years and receives all the other perks that go to tournament winners.

It had been a pretty poor season for List, who during the previous campaign won his first PGA Tour title but this season missed 11 cuts and didn't have a top-10 over 27 starts.

Now, List will get into The Sentry -- the renamed season-opening tournament in January -- plus THE PLAYERS and the big one, the Masters. He also moved to 61st in the standings, and his next goal is to finish top-60, which brings more perks. He's back inside the top 100 in the world rankings at No. 80.

List was interviewed while Griffin still had his final hole to play, and he proved prophetic: "Yeah, 18 is kind of playing tough and tricky, so if Ben hits a good drive, it makes it a little easier, but if you hit it in the rough there, it's tough to make four. We'll wait and see."

Griffin promptly drove into the left rough, couldn't get on the green in two, then missed an eight-footer for par that would've won the tournament.

The social-media star had come close to victory once before, almost exactly one year ago in Bermuda. But like Sunday, he had a bad final round and wound up tied for third, two strokes behind Seamus Power, who shot two better than Griffin on Sunday.

"It's a bummer," a sullen Griffin told reporters at the Sanderson Farms. "I learned a lot from Bermuda, and I thought I was going to still be able to get it done today, and it just sucks. That's all it is.

"But I get to play golf for a living, so ..."

So ... Griffin no doubt will continue to chronicle his life as a pro golfer on TikTok. It's just that the post about being a PGA Tour winner will have to wait for another day.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Ludvig Aberg
When he arrived in Mississippi, Aberg was four days, an ocean and one wild celebration removed from winning the Ryder Cup with Europe. He could've easily withdrawn, as European teammate Nicolai Hojgaard did in the aftermath of the big win over Team USA in Rome. Aberg said he wanted to honor his commitment. We didn't think he'd be able to justify his five-figure DraftKings price, and even making the cut was not a certainty despite being the top player in the field. We couldn't have been more wrong. Just months removed from completing an All-America career at Texas Tech, the 23-year-old Swede could be golf's next superstar. He will keep his foot on the pedal this week when he plays the Shriners Children's Open in Las Vegas. This time, Hojgaard will join him in a field that also will feature Lexi Thompson. Aberg is up to a career-best 59th in the world rankings.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout
The South African, who withdrew from the Fortinet with a wrist injury three weeks ago, shot four rounds in the 60s and tied for sixth.

Tom Hoge
Hoge has been a busy boy of late, having played twice in Europe since the TOUR Championship. At the Sanderson, he tied for 13th. That followed a tie for 14th at the loaded BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth a couple of weeks before the Ryder Cup.

Kevin Kisner
The soon-to-be 40-year-old tied for 51st and has now made two cuts in the fall after an injury-slowed 2023-23 season. Before cashing at the Fortinet, Kisner had not made a cut since THE PLAYERS in March. He is far back in the standings but is exempt for one more year thanks to wins at the 2019 WGC-Match Play and 2021 Wyndham.

Ross Steelman
The 22-year-old former Georgia Tech player who seems destined for a career on the PGA Tour made the cut. He had a decent week going until shooting 3-over 75 on Sunday to plummet to a tie for 65th.

Ford Clegg
The former Mississippi State star in on a sponsor's invite made the cut. He tied for 77th.

MISSED CUTS

Mackenzie Hughes, Keith Mitchell, Dylan Wu, Sam Bennett and Fred Biondi. … Hughes was the defending champion. … Mitchell, one of the highest-ranked golfers in the field, shot 5-over for 36 holes and beat only one other golfer, Greg Sonnier, who gained entry as the local PGA Section champion. … Wu was coming off a T14 at the Fortinet that moved him to a personal-best 169th in the world rankings. … Bennett, among the top college players in the 2023 PGA Tour University rankings, was playing for the first time since a made cut at the Wyndham more than two months ago. … Biondi was the 2023 NCAA Division I individual champion out of Florida. He has played a number for Korn Ferry tournaments without much success.

FEDEXCUP STANDINGS

There are two thresholds we are chronicling during the FedExCup Fall.

The top 125 in the standings, which will determine who earns a PGA Tour card for next season.
Those who finish 51st to 60th in the standings and will gain entry into the first two Signature Events of 2024 at Pebble Beach and Riviera.

Entering the Top 125

Aberg had already secured his card for 2024 by finishing first in the 2023 PGA Tour University standings. But he moved from 136th to 113th and will in all likelihood knock out one player who otherwise would've finished inside the top 125.
Norlander, thanks to that four-way runner-up, moved from 142nd to 120th. With five more tournaments to go in the fall, he is far from safe. But Norlander surely loves this tournament. It was his third top-5 here in four years.
Stallings was in the 2022 TOUR Championship but had been amid a terrible 2022-23 season. His shared runner-up moved him from 130th to 98th, more than enough to keep his card for 2024.
Erik van Rooyen tied for 16th to move from 126th to 125th, inside the threshold but a precarious position indeed.

Falling out of the Top 125

First-round leader Chesson Hadley wound up tied for 35th and fell from 122nd to 127th.
Jimmy Walker, who complained recently about how the top-125 timeframe has been extended until the end of the fall period, tied for 43rd to fall from 121st to 128th.
MJ Daffue missed the cut to fall from 120th to 126th.
Patton Kizzire also missed the cut and dropped from 124th to 130th.

For those missing the top 125, the 126-150 category is far better than nothing, and Cameron Percy moved from 152nd to 150th by also tying for 43rd place.

Activity among Nos. 51-60

Griffin moved from 66th to 51st, which is as high as he or anyone else could rise given that the top 50 cannot change.
Mark Hubbard tied for sixth to move from 65th to 59th.
The two players to fall out were Brandon Wu, who tied for 62nd, and J.J. Spaun, who was idle.

KORN FERRY GRADUATES

The Korn Ferry Tour season came to a close with the Korn Ferry Tour Championship, and the 30 graduates joining the PGA Tour next season have been finalized. They include 20 first-timers on the PGA Tour.

Former PGA Tour member Paul Barjon won the tournament for his third Korn Ferry victory and will return to the big Tour in 2024.

Other notables getting their PGA Tour cards:

Former PGA Tour member Ben Kohles finished first in the KF standings.
Chan Kim, a 33-year-old American born in Korea, will get his first taste of membership after finishing second to Kohles.
Other ex-PGA Tour members returning are Grayson Murray, Rafael Campos, Ben Silverman, Roger Sloan and Josh Teater.
Adrien Dumont de Chassart from Belgium who just finished third in the PGA Tour University standings playing for the University of Illinois.
Chris Gotterup, who played a bit last season after graduating from Oklahoma.
23-year-old twins Parker Coody and Pierceson Coody from the famed Coody golfing family.

On the flip side, there was heartbreak for Shad Tuten. He thought he had finished top-30 but after his round was notified of a two-stroke penalty for an illegal drop, leaving him in 32nd place. With lift, clean and place in effect, after he placed his ball down in the 15th fairway, it rolled a few inches. Instead of placing the ball back in the drop spot, Tuten redropped, resulting in a second -- and illegal -- drop. Absolute heartache.